ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Stony Brook University holds itself, its faculty, and its students to high standards of academic integrity. You can rest assured that the University will protect you as well as it can from any attempts by a classmate to commit acts of academic dishonesty. In addition, you are expected to know and comply with the University's academic integrity policies. For more detailed information contact Wanda Moore, Academic Integrity Officer in Undergraduate Academic Affairs at (631) 632-7080, or Elyce Winters, Assistant Dean in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at (631) 632-8381.

As it becomes easier to obtain materials on disk or on the Web to use for your assignments, remember that the risk of inadvertent plagiarism also increases. Be sure that the work you submit to your courses is your own, and if there is any doubt about what is allowable in a class, be sure to ask your instructor. Always avoid the following:

• Copying someone else's writing word-for-word, even if it constitutes only some of your paper.
• Paraphrasing someone else's writing too closely, even if it constitutes only some of your paper.
• If there is any doubt about whether your submission is too close a paraphrase, check with your instructor before turning it in.
• Downloading from electronic databases, encyclopedias, or Web sites and submitting the product as your own work, even if it constitutes only some of your paper.
• Writing a paper together with someone else in the course (unless the instructor expressly allows collaborative work).
• Allowing someone else to write your paper or part of it.
• Submitting all or part of a paper obtained from a commercial paper mill.
• Presenting someone else's idea as your own without properly citing it.
• Submitting the same paper in more than one course without permission of the instructors.

As is true in any scholarly work, quoting someone else's writing is allowable, but only if formal conventions for quoting and citing are strictly followed. Remember, though, that a paper assignment that asks you to develop an idea and express it in your own words should do just that. If you quote other people's work at all, do it sparingly. The work you are graded on should be your own.

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